Rise of a Commoner
by wild-wizard-women
Summary: A young female thief must rise out of the levels of thieves and commoners to help save her country, but the questions is will she decide to help her country or will she watch it crumble and those she was taught to distrust? Please R&R! PG13 is safe rating
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: The land of Tortall (and the surrounding countries) belong to Tamora Pierce along with all the characters except for Luana. _

_Title: Rise of a Commoner_

_Summary: A young female thief must rise out of the levels of thieves and commoners to help save her country. But the questions is will she decide to help her country or will she watch it crumble and those she was taught to distrust? Please RR!_

_Characters: King Jon, Thayet, George, Alanna, Kel, Neal, Raoul, Daine, Numair, Buri, Luana (own character) and a few others_

_Time: After TC and TQ. _

_Genre: Action/Adventure most likely some Romance but with who?_

CHAPTER 1

Luana strode casually through the Dancing Dove. She took in everything from its rowdy atmosphere to secret deals being made under tables. Many of the men whistled as she walked past them and even some before she got near them. Luana, or as her friends called her Lua or Lu, ignored all the suggestive gestures and sounds and walked over to a table placed in the desolate spot of the corner.

From her seat she could eye everything that was going on and still be a protected, well as well as one could be in the haven of Tortall's thieves. The person that got a hold of most of her interest was the King of Thieves. He was new, his bright red hair made him look somewhat related to the famous Lioness, many scars had a home among his arms and a big puffy one was placed conveniently on his face. The old king was been challenged, as was proper, by this new lad, the outcome was obvious from what Lu was staring at. He had grass green eyes that flitted about the room. The girl in the corner smiled, he wasn't comfortable in his high position, yet. Well she thought grimly to herself; let's give him some more reason to be nervous.

Lu stumbled into a small inn outside of Corus. The inn keeper quickly rushed towards her, yelling for her to get outside until she saw a healer. Blood was dripping off a large, deep cut in her arm. Her eye was puffy and her lip split, it felt as if her nose was broken as well.

"Stupid fools" she muttered under her breath, at no one in particular. The guests at the inn had decided as a whole that she was not one to be messed with and were going about their business, as far away from her as possible.

The innkeeper had called a healer, one came bustling through the stone gate with speed that a cheetah could have been proud off. Her raven hair was slipping out of the leather strip that was holding it up. As soon as she saw Luana she shrieked and hurried over. The patient groaned, she was under a nervous healer that was, considering her luck tonight, most likely an apprentice (A/N: Are healers-to-be apprentices"). She was right, the healers was extremely nervous and keep on jostling around and hitting her gashed arm, making Luana wince in pain and have to bear more mollycoddling. Throughout the whole, and painful, healing process the apprentice kept exclaiming at the folly of youth and laughing hysterically.

The sun had almost risen up again when Luana was aloud to leave the healer's clutches and return to the inn, only slightly better then when she had arrived in the first place. Ordering a hot bath, some bread and fruit juice she limped up the stairs, pondering on the night, the one that had left her bruised, cut, sore and cursing at her men's stupidity.

_Flash Back (Until I say so):_

Everything was perfect... the alleyway that Luana and her three men were hiding in had the luck of the moon shining on their targets and the darkness of night laying a blanket where they were hiding.

The plan was to take out the two thieves, which held their loyalty with the new king, out. She could smell the liquor coming from the two thieves. They were stumbling down the alleyway like drunken blind men, half of that was true. Don't ever waste someone else's stupidity; Lu muttered the variation of what Tortall's spymaster, George Cooper, told his daughter Aly. It was hard to believe that it was these to men that helped the new 'majesty' gain the chair in the Dancing Dove.

The foursome moved quickly out of the shadows, leaping like panthers onto prey, with a quick flick of their wrists daggers slide into their hands. The prey stumbled and tried to pull out their own weapons, stumbling dazedly through their shirts searching for the knives concealed on their body. With quick slashes the four attacking placed long gashes onto the two men. Everything was going according to plan. Except something happened that shouldn't have... Five welled armed men dressed in the uniform of my Lord Provost jumped out of their own hiding spots. Drawing swords and knives themselves they attacked the attackers, slaying Luana's three men instantly. She fled, nearly escaping impaling herself one of the guard's sword, instead it hit her arm creating a long gash.

She stumbled blindly through the streets of Corus, whirling the event over and over again in her mind. What had caused the guard to be in that alleyway at that time on that day? She quickly realized what happened, her men, her stupid men, must have talked about it a little too loudly and someone must have overheard and informed Lord Provost. Well they learned their lesson, never talk were you can be overheard. The consequence could be horrible, like lying dead in an alleyway. What _had_ happened was not the most pressing issue at the moment; the pressing issue was that Lord Provost's guards had seen her face.

_Flash Back Ends_

_And thus ends the first chapter of "The Rise of a Commoner." I would love it if all those that read this could write a tiny (although big is fine too!) review! I hoped you enjoyed it and remember to press that little thing in the bottom left corner that says "Submit Review!" _


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: The land of Tortall (and the surrounding countries) belongs to Tamora Pierce along with all the characters except for Luana. _

_Title: Rise of a commoner_

_Summary: A young female thief must rise out of the levels of thieves and commoners to help save her country. But the questions is will she decide to help her country or will she watch it crumble and those she was taught to distrust? Please RR!_

_Characters: King Jon, Thayet, George, Alanna, Kel, Neal, Raoul, Daine, Numair, Buri, Luana (own character), and a few others_

_Time: After TC and TQ. _

_Genre: Action/Adventure most likely some Romance but with who?_

_A/N: Here is the second chapter of "Rise of a Commoner." I hope that you enjoy it and remember, I love reviews, they are my life line!_

_P.S In case if you haven't figured out italics are author's notes unless if it is really obvious that it isn't._

CHAPTER 2

Lua groaned as she woke up, her whole body screamed with pain. Her head spun and her arm ached like some stormwing was gnawing at it.

When she rose out of her bed she surveyed herself in the mirror at the end of the room. Perhaps, she thought to herself, I should give the healer a little more credit. Her lip was now sealed together, her nose wasn't crooked, her puffy eye had gone down immensely although it was still tinted a pretty purple and blue, her arm was really the only thing that looked on the other half of half decent. A puffy scar was forming from her biceps to mid forearm. It was so sore that Luana couldn't move or flex any part of her arm.

After a long struggle with her arm and whether it would allow her to get dressed –some maid had changed her the night before when she had been submitted to unconsciousness- Luana managed to pull on a tunic and breeches and run a comb through her long blonde matted hair—of course with her good arm.

When she finally opened the door to her room the sun had taken its place at the highest of points in the sky. (A/N: Other words, it was noon) The corridor was empty and loud noises were coming from downstairs, following the sounds of the noises she limped down the skinny stairway until she reached the main floor.

All her thieving senses told her to hide, that this was dangerous territory. Luana, who nearly always listened to her senses, (A/N: argh, lame word!) crouched in the shadows behind the curling stairs.

Her keen ears were picked up, catching everything from the light footsteps of the maid that was cleaning the rooms to the loud boisterous talk of men-at-arms. She listened to each conversation carefully until settling in on listening to two old women that were chatting of the day's gossips. Half listening to the news of who had been arrested and who was having fight with whom, Lua settled into her hiding spot, all the while watching everything with her sapphire flitting eyes. Luana stayed crouched in the shadows for most of the afternoon, deciding that she was safe she started to creep out of her spot. Hearing something that caught her attention Lua stopped abruptly.

"I hear that Lord Provost has his men out on the look out for a youngin', she supposedly got into a ruffle with some of his guards last night. A pretty big reward is on this girly's head." Whispered the old woman to her friend, who was nodding and looking around as though the girl might be in the room at this very moment, of course she didn't know that in truth she was.

Luana's eyes widened considerably, she started slowly backing back into her hiding spot. My Lord Provost almost never puts up reward signs for us thieves, he normally lets us go about our business as long as it doesn't trouble the city and the law, Lua thought. Part of her felt honored, although only a very small part, that she was one of the few thieves to pose that much of a threat with her skills.

Waiting until the sun started to set and the costumers starting to mingle into the inn for a night's drinking and dice, Lu stayed crouched in her spot, ignoring the pain in her arm and her muscles cramping up. When the inn was quite full she slipped out of the stairway and mingled among the crowd, keeping her head down and keeping to the sides of the room. Only once did a man take notice of her, she dealt with that quickly, smiling at him and disappearing into the crowd and from the man's sight.

She made her way to the back door quickly, grabbing and apron that was hanging on a hook she tied it around her neck and tied her hair up in the manner of the maids, taking care not to be seen she slipped out the servant's entrance and in to the dead of the night.

Luana nimbly jogged on the grass so not to leave her foot prints in the mud from a rain fall a couple of nights ago. Deciding not to take a horse and give the citizens and guards of Corus even more reason to find her she ran through the winding alleyways that she knew like that back of her hand until she came upon a small little hovel on the outskirts of the city. She knocked quietly, but loud enough to be heard, and stepped through the doorway before she got an answer.

The hovel was dimly lit, the only light source a small dripping candle, coats, tunics and breeches littered the walls and floors. Three chairs were placed around a table that looked like it was made of driftwood. Two small bunk beds were shoved in one corner of the semi-square room. Old musty blankets were thrown carelessly on top of the straw mattresses. Two men, as dirty as the room, sat around the table with a deck of cards in their hand.

Lua grinned at them and then surveyed the room, her grin turned to a look of disgust. "Don't you know how to clean?" She demanded throwing the clothes and odds and ends that were in her path into unknown dusty corners.

"Ah, milady," one of the men drawled, "we cleaned it up 'specially for ya." The other man nodded in agreement.

Lua just scowled at them and sat down on the third chair, wincing as her are hit the table. The two men nodded approvingly at the puffy scar, "Ya got a nice one milady," one of the men said whistling.

"Save your petty talk," Luana said, in a drawl of her own, "I need a safe place to stay that is _clean_."

The tow men stared at each other, Lua could almost see their brain's turning. Finally one of the whispered, "We have just the place, milady."

_A/N: Second is now finished, what will happen? Where is the safe place? Da da da da, tune in tomorrow to find out! Sorry, I just had to do that, I hope that you enjoyed this chapter and please review!_


	3. Chapter 3

_Disclaimer: The land of Tortall (and the surrounding countries) belongs to Tamora Pierce along with all the characters except for Luana. _

_Title: Rise of a commoner_

_Summary: A young female thief must rise out of the levels of thieves and commoners to help save her country. But the questions is will she decide to help her country or will she watch it crumble and those she was taught to distrust? Please RR!_

_Characters: King Jon, Thayet, George, Alanna, Kel, Neal, Raoul, Daine, Numair, Buri, Luana (own character), and a few others_

_Time: After TC and TQ. _

_Genre: Action/Adventure most likely some Romance but with who?_

CHAPTER 3

_Here is the last little bit of Chapter 2:_

"Save your petty talk," Luana said, in a drawl of her own, "I need a safe place to stay that is _clean_."

The tow men stared at each other, Lua could almost see their brain's turning. Finally one of the whispered, "We have just the place, milady."

_And it ends right now..._

Lua stood up quickly, slipping two knives into her sweaty palms. The two men stood up just as fast, their large imposing shadows covered most of the room, and the candle flickered and died out.

One of the two men slipped his own two knives into his palms while the other drew a large broadsword.

"Milady, if you come without hassle we won't hurt you," one of them warned.

"Yeah right, you traitors," Luana answered, trying to keep the fury out of her voice. "I never thought that my own men would have dogs for ancestors."

This put a look of shame and fury onto Lua's opponents. "Well," one of them shrugged, "he pays better then you." The other nodded in agreement.

"Who?" Demanded Lua, "Who is corrupting the thieving world?" They just shrugged a non committal shrug and attacked.

Their ferocity made even Luana stumbled, quickly bringing up her knives she slashed out, her knife hit its target, the man with the knives stumbled as it cut through a major tendon. A yell of fury escaped his lips until he sank into the blackness of unconsciousness. Now it was only the girl and the large man with the broadsword. His muscles were twitching and his eyes cold. The two circled each other, as far away from the other as the small hovel would permit. They were almost in each other's range, in a deadly zone.

Luana's arm started to puss and hurt. If this match didn't end soon then she would start to lose blood. Sweat was dripping into each of their eyes; both knew that if they wiped it away it would leave an opening for the other. Lu's arm started to hurt more and more, it was now a studding thumping and blood was dripping to the floor. The swordsman sensed that, he jumped in with surprising speed, Lua tried to hold him off, throwing kicks and punches and slashing wherever she could. A couple of her last attempts hit their target causing him to falter but in the end he overcame her, knocking her on the head with the end off his sword. All the girl remembered seeing was darkness...

The female thief woke with her arms bound by chain. She quickly surveyed her surrounding and immediately placed herself in the palace's dungeons. So, she thought grimly to herself, the lying dogs were in with the law. Well at least they had the decency to pick someone rich that was quite fair, that was more to say the all the thieves that had sided with Claw around twenty years ago (A/N: Did TQ take place around 20 years of Lioness Rampant?).

Lu spent most of the morning in the cell, only once did the door enter to show a servant bringing bread and some water. The girl grabbed at it hungrily, it had been more then a day since she had last eaten. The bread was quite fresh and rich and the water was clear, well if they do plan on keeping me here for a while I won't starve, the thief thought to herself, trying to look on the bright side of things.

The sun had set and night was starting to creep into the cell through the tiny barred window. Figuring she was going to be there for the night Luana lay upon the dirt floor.

She lay there for hours; contemplating on ways to get out of this cell put she knew it was pointless. The palace was infamous amongst thieves for its top notch prisons. It was well past midnight before she slipped away into sleep. She did not notice the door swing open and admit three well dressed men.

_A/N: Sorry it is so short, it just seemed like a good spot to stop and still have a sort of cliff hanger. I hoped that you enjoyed Chapter 3 and I would love it if you could review! P.S I am planning on getting some romance in here, I just need to decide with who and I need to actually get Lua to meet some of the original characters. _


	4. Chapter 4

_Disclaimer: The land of Tortall (and the surrounding countries) belongs to Tamora Pierce along with all the characters except for Luana. _

_Title: Rise of a commoner_

_Summary: A young female thief must rise out of the levels of thieves and commoners to help save her country. But the questions is will she decide to help her country or will she watch it crumble and those she was taught to distrust? Please RR!_

_Characters: King Jon, Thayet, George, Alanna, Kel, Neal, Raoul, Daine, Numair, Buri, Luana (own character), and a few others_

_Time: After TC and TQ. _

_Genre: Action/Adventure most likely some Romance but with who?_

_Here is the fourth chapter of Rise of a Commoner. Answers to reviews will be at the end of the chapter, thanks to all those that have reviewed! I hope you enjoy this chapter!_

_

* * *

_

_Last little paragraph of the last chapter_

She lay there for hours; contemplating on ways to get out of this cell put she knew it was pointless. The palace was infamous amongst thieves for its top notch prisons. It was well past midnight before she slipped away into sleep. She did not notice the door swing open and admit three well dressed men.

_And it ends now...

* * *

_

A light shone into the cell causing Lua to open her eyes quickly. She stood up so to show that she would not bow down to her captors, her sapphire blue eyes stared at them defiantly, her chin was held high.

"Luana Smith," Lua slightly acknowledged this with an incline of her head, if the speaker noticed this he did not give any notion of it. "You are charged with attacking soldiers of Lord Provost and avoiding detainment by two loyal citizens of the law," with this Lu tried to compress a snort but failed, awarding her glares from the three men in the shadows.

"However His Royal Highness King Jonathon is willing to forgive you of these acts against the law if you will obey his terms."

"And, what are his Majesty's terms?" Luana drawled, keeping her eyes of the men's faces.

The men looked at each other, a look of shock was on their face, and they obviously had not expected her to even ask what the terms were.

"Follow us and you shall see," one of the three said. Luana winced, it could be a death trap she thought to herself, but on the other hand, her more joking hand, they are really nice and...

She followed them across the gardens, now she could get a better look at who she was with. Lord Provost had coal black hair, his body was muscled and tanned, he walked with ease and his grass green eyes flitted from person to person, Myles of Olau was dressed in common clothes and the former thief George Cooper was also dressed in breeches and a tunic.

They walked through the palace, ignoring the glances of nobles and servants until they reached a door to the suite. This was Lua's first time in the palace and she was enjoying every minute of it. Her eyes darted from place to place taking in everything from the servant's cleaning to pages going outside for their afternoon lessons to stuffy conservatives starting gossip about the female warriors.

Upon entering they saw King Jonathan having a quiet (although it was quickly rising in volume) conversation with his Lioness. The red head and black haired king quickly quieted when they saw the visitors. Stamping off the Alanna nodded to Luana and slammed the door.

Baron George Cooper grinned at Jon and motioned for Luana to sit in a chair. The four men surrounded her, like an arc. Smiling timidly, trying to play the thieving game, Lua waited for them to talk first. George smiled he knew exactly what she was trying to do, as did all the rest of the men in the room, playing along.

Lady Smith," Lua smiled and nodded her head in the direction of George, "We'll set you free, if you abide to His Majesty King Jonathan terms."

"And what," Lua said daintily, cleaning her nails and pretending to look uninterested, "Are his majesty's terms?"

Lord Provost took a piece of parchment out of a drawer. He passed the parchment to her and let her skim it over. The four men watched her face turn from amusement to disgust.

_

* * *

_

_Terms_

_I shall swear loyalty to the new King of Thieves._

_I shall obey any order given to me by Lord Provost, King Jonathon, Baron George and Sir Myles of Olau._

_My service will belong to the Crown.  
_

* * *

When Luana finished she eyed them coldly. Deciding to still play the game she quickly removed her look of disgust and replaced it with a smile.

"The last two are very clear," she murmured, "but the first one does not make much sense."

_Sorry it is short, I just wanted to update because there seems to be a whirl wind of new fics! I have a couple of question that I would love if you guys could answer (if you don't know don't worry) (also you don't need to answer). First of all what does Lord Provost look like? How old do you think that Roald (the heir) was during Trickster's Queen? And would you mind reviewing this story? Sorry is this chapter was weird and if George, Jon and Myles (and Lua) were OOC. P.S Next chapter there will be more explaining about Lua's past. _

_Here are my replies to the reviews (thank you so much for reviewing, it put a smile onto my face when I saw "Review Alert!):_

**jollyrancher-j2k**: Well I hope that you found out! Thank you so much for being my first reviewer!

**jes**: Thank you so much for reviewing, was this fast enough?

**Clair-a-net**: Thanks for the review and the ideas (I really like the one about the new King of Thieves for the Romance part)! The reason she was on the wanted sign was because of the terms that was the king gave her. It was really just a way to get her in because they knew that she wouldn't come on her own free will.

**Cede**: Thank you for the review (the two kicks, two kisses is a really cool idea!). As for the two kicks I hope that they author's notes are better. I have a rough plan for the romance (thanks for the tip.) Thanks for the two kisses (they made my day!)! Don't worry about spelling (all my reviews are atrocious).


	5. Chapter 5

_Disclaimer: The land of Tortall (and the surrounding countries) belongs to Tamora Pierce along with all the characters except for Luana. _

_Title: Rise of a commoner_

_Summary: A young female thief must rise out of the levels of thieves and commoners to help save her country. But the questions is will she decide to help her country or will she watch it crumble and those she was taught to distrust? Please RR!_

_Characters: King Jon, Thayet, George, Alanna, Kel, Neal, Raoul, Daine, Numair, Buri, Luana (own character), and a few others_

_Time: After TC and TQ. _

_Genre: Action/Adventure most likely some Romance_

_I hope that you enjoy this chapter! This chapter is going to be really short because it is just explaining. P.S I would really love it if you could review!_

* * *

Lua threw the piece of parchment down, eyeing the four men she murmured—trying to keep her voice steady—"I shall need a few days to think about it your majesty." Her voice was full of hate.

Jon bowed and led her to the door, "My lady, we shall set you up in a room, the dungeon is no place for a lady."

Smiling a sickly smile Luana curtsied and walked out. Jon quickly followed her, as soon as the two left Myles said abruptly, "That went well."

Lord Provost let out a laugh; it was quickly stopped, in the end it sounded like a sharp bark, "Well? I must say, I have been treated better by my wife."

George smiled weakly; he gave a non-committal shrug and walked out of the room. As if this was the sign to go the two men left muttered something about having to go somewhere and left the room.

The king led Lua to a dazzling chamber. There was a large bed in the middle of the room; lilac cotton sheets fitted the bed. There were paintings on the wall and there was one that made Lua grin, it was of the Dancing Dove.

"I hope that you find this accommodation acceptable Lady Smith."

Lua nodded her head and the king silently closed the door. As soon as the door closed Lua ran and flopped on the bed, she lay there for a few moments, thinking.

She let a sigh of frustration, why did they pick her? What was going on? What did the first term mean?

Laying in her own thoughts Lua brought back her past:

_

* * *

_

_This is some Lua's past_

She was five-years-old. Already she had a knife in her hand and was learning the simple patterns. Her father and mother were still a live then, her father had been the King of Thieves for a brief period of time until her gave up the post to start a family with his sweetheart. Luana always had the dream to be the Queen of Thieves, just like her Da.

Her father used to take her each night and sit her on his lap; it was then that he would tell her a useful knife trick or an important lesson. All of these lessons stuck in Luana's mind but the one that stuck the most was, "Never trust royalty, they will always betray you when you need then most." This was one of the lessons that he would repeat around every moon. Lu never asked why he said this, if Da said it then it must be right.

_Her flashback/past thing is over now_

* * *

The door slowly creaked open, Lua's eyes flashed opened quickly, sliding two knives into her palms she crouched behind the bed. The person that entered the room was hidden; slowly starting to creep around the bed to see who her visitors was, Lua paused. Cold steel was pressed against her neck, "Lass put your knives away." Slowly she slid them back up her tunic, the blade at her neck eased it pressure.

Luana swung around and cam face to face with George Cooper, former King of Thieves. Eyeing him suspiciously Lua plopped down onto the bed. "Why are you here?" She demanded.

George eyed her, "They told me that you were intelligent. I would have thought that you figured that out by now."

Ignoring the insult Lua thought aloud, "My guess, for whatever it is worth, is that you are going to explain to me about the terms."

George grinned, "Maybe they were right after all." Tossing her the paper that held the three terms that had made Lua furious only an hour ago George began, "Now lass, this wasn't my idea but what I am, an old thief." He struck a pose like a player, getting to the point he said bluntly, "There's been talk about an assassination attempt."

This startled Lua greatly, her eyes popped slightly, there was very little that _she _did not know about.

"King Jon and Lord Provost want to gain the alliance with as many thieves as they can, as to lower the risk of it coming from the lower levels." Seeing the look on her face, George corrected himself, "The wonderful, exciting, action-packed levels."

"I understand the last two terms then but what about the first. Any king of thieves would..." Luana trailed off mid-sentence. You dolt, she chided herself quietly, he was a king of thieves.

"Well, the new king of thieves is a," he stopped. The bedroom door had a steady pounding. George nodded to Lua and slipped out through her bathroom window. She grinned at him and went to answer the door.

Her grin faded when she opened the door.

* * *

_Haha, cliffy (well I think that it is a cliffy). I think that I explained some in this chapter (well I hope that I did!). This chapter was kinda weird and not much happened bu I hoped that you enjoyed it (just to let you know, this chapter didn't come out quite as expected but oh well)._

_I would like to thank all those that reviewed!_

**lost goddess of the shadows: **Thanks so much for the review and the answers for the questions. I should probably retire Lord Provost soon... Was George a little better in this chapter? I hoped that enjoyed reading this chappie!

**arimadilloa2k: **Sorry, here is another cliff hanger! How was George in this chapter? Thanks so much for the review!

**jollyrancher-j2k**Your reviews are lovely, nice and meaningful! Sorry, you didn't get to find out who the King of Thieves was, that gives me another chapter to think up a good person (hehe). Thank you so much for being my only reviewer that has reviewed both chappies!


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